Dark Eldar (DE) Strategy Guide 5th

[Hovey]

now I promise this will be the last question, I vaguely remember reading ppl saying that Mandrakes are usually overlooked by other elite choices but reading there rules they seem to be perfect for CoD since they get Stealth and Move through cover

CoD? (sorry I hate acronyms)

[danny-d-b]

city of death

[Hovey]

now I promise this will be the last question, I vaguely remember reading ppl saying that Mandrakes are usually overlooked by other elite choices but reading there rules they seem to be perfect for CoD since they get Stealth and Move through cover

Ok so they have 3+ cover, and move through cover. Now what do you do with them? Loose combat against any unit? Toughness 3, 5+ save, no assault grenades.

Try to make them a shooting unit? Ohh wait they need a Pain token to do that. Guess you need them to win a combat first. The other option is a Heami, but then you don't get to use Infiltrate.

Really the only reason to use mandrakes is you like the models.

P.S. I like how they have gotten even worse, as they are now deamons so grey knights get even more over kill against them.

[Souleater]

Harlequins would be my preferance for 'exotic CC unit'. They get grenades, the ability to simply ignore movement penalties and can upgrade to Rending for a bit more CC punch.

Honestly, however I'd prefer Grotesques or Wracks for their template wickedness.

[Private_SeeD]

I have been tinkering around with idea's for my force so far I have:
Baron Sathonyx in a unit of 14 hellions and helliarch with argoniser
Talos with Chain flails and haywire blaster

1) now I dnt knw if I want to go with a 10 man unit of warriors with just a blaster and Dark Lance as a token scoring unit and then have a unit of blood brides with all the bell and whistles with a token haemi for the pain token which will leave with some points to squeeze in a beast master with toys.
2) take out the warriors and go with a unit of wyches with all the bell and whistles with a haemi again for the pain token and a unit of Harlequins with a shadowseer, fusion gun and 2 harlequin kisses and then squeeze in a beast master and/or a Death Jester

I haven't taken any Scourges because I can't fit them in and there role as AT has been taken up by my other choices

[The Judge]

So faced down 3x Venerable Psi-rifle naughts and a 1 regular Psi-rifle naughts at 1500 points. I must say it feels like its impossible to beat this many Grey Knight dreadnaughts at so few points.

Any one else have to face this ridiculously broken type of list at low points?

I've only faced them with a mechanised Raider list at 1750pts. First game I lost seven skimmers in the first turn, even with cover. Pretty much decided the game in one round of shooting.

I don't think Reserve Denial would help, as he sat at the back board edge.

A huge change to the list is of course required - perhaps Hellions would help, in large numbers?

[Hez]

Hey,

I'm wondering if getting 2x DE battleforce is good for a start?

I was thinking about adding 2 haemonculi with wwp;

2 units of raider warriors + portal haem each, 2 units of wyches & a unit of 6 reavers -- it should all come around to 1k pts.


Would it be any good/competetive for starters at 1k, or would it be better to buy specific units one by one, rather than getting 2x battleforce?


Cheers,

[Hovey]

If you don't already have any mini's two battle forces is great.

You should have multiple Wych units, Warriors units, and Raiders.

The jetbikes I think are essentially free. You don't have to have them, but they are fun.

[Okuto]

2 battleforces is more than enough to get a 1k force out...it's how I started out...

everything in the battleforce is useful, just add maybe some vemons to taste and you're good to go

[ursvamp]

Well there will be a Mega Force availible later this year I think? (thread: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=321889) and it looks like a real good start

[Private_SeeD]

Has anyone got any ideas how to convert a hex rifle when not using the one from the wracks box-set? Also are there standard load outs for haemonculi?


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[Okuto]

I've only faced them with a mechanised Raider list at 1750pts. First game I lost seven skimmers in the first turn, even with cover. Pretty much decided the game in one round of shooting.

I don't think Reserve Denial would help, as he sat at the back board edge.

A huge change to the list is of course required - perhaps Hellions would help, in large numbers?

I'm glad I play a WWP list....don't want to rely on paper planes too much.....though I have a no-grey knight policy atm, it's very hard to get any fun outta fighting them

[kenny3760]

GK's are brutal when running Psyfleman. We can't out range them and anytime he shoots at one of your skimmers it is gone. Only thing you can so is full reserve and hope. If you can get a dred down with each ovf your ravagers and do some damage with each raider the turn they come on you might have a chance.

I played a 4 land raider Mephiston Delivery system at the weekend a 1750 points. Very hard going, put 19 lance and blaster shots into it in 1 turn, blew off 1 weapon and immobilised 1 raider. It went downhill rapidly after that.

[FrostByteVA]

If I was starting from scratch, I'd look at two Mega Box (comming out) or one of each box sets.
http://natfka.blogspot.com/2011/10/4...ased-dark.html

Two Mega would build something like this (after finding/modding blaster bits), points for units available with two kits (each unit points)
2 Ravagers (115pts)
2 Witch Raiders (186pts)
2 BlasterBorn Venoms (158pts)
1 Scourages squad (274pts)
3 Bike Squads (166pts)
1 Warrior squad (~140pts)

Dunno about pricing but that's a very sizeable and flexable army. Needs 1 more Ravager or Jetfighter and transports to suit.

If the price is too high, the regular box is a good deal. But you will want/need the ravager and venom from big box. Scourges are optional and the small box gives you enough bikes (in my opinion). So, either way would be ok, perhaps one of each.

[Kirby]

In response to the match-up issues with Grey Knights...

Psyfledreads are just a pain for anyone without fast or disruptive meltaguns. This is magnified when there is no psychic defenses. Dark Eldar do have Reavers but at S6, heat lances aren't hyper reliable at dropping the Psyfledreads. On the whole though, Dark Eldar can do well against Grey Knights as they will generally have an initial range advantage in the first couple of turns.

Things like Psyflemen and Psybacks are very likely always going to be in range but if you force the Grey Knight player to come to you to get their mass of Psycannons and Stormbolters in range, as a Dark Eldar player you can have a couple turns of shooting with your lance weapons before hand. Whilst Fortitude is going to screw over your suppression fire somewhat, weapon destroyed, immobilised and wrecked+ results are all still effective. Remember as well, it takes two Psyflemen on average to drop a Ravager though a single Psyfleman is VERY likely to suppress a single Ravager.

The key here is to try and strip the Grey Knight player of support around the Psyflemen until you can deal with them without over-extending yourself. Whether this is with fast units like Reavers with Heat Lances or units coming out of webway portals with heat lances/fusions pistols or simply getting units into combat with them (Hellions are a great unit with hit and run for example), you just have to accept their damage in the first couple of turns. The issue of course comes against lists running six of them and whilst this list might have issues against other types of armies (i.e. hordes), that's small solace to you as the Dark Eldar player. Here, unless going first, your best bet is often to reserve. Even if the opponent puts them right on their board edge, your Dark Lances on vehicles will be able to move on and still shoot them.

It is a tough match-up when there are a ton of Psyfledreads but overall despite Fortitude, Dark Eldar can do well against Grey Knights but it's important to maximise your mobility and range advantage against the majority of their army as much as possible. I've discussed the same points above in more detail along with other concepts in this army comparison here for those who are interested.

[Beerfart]

Some good tactical observation there Kirby...thanx!

[Sami]

Even more important is to play on a table with good amounts of LOS-blocking cover

-----------------------------------------------

Think I might've posted this in the past but the rules are only now "official":

Tourney coming up. 1500 points, no SCs allowed. The good news is that I won't have to deal with Purifier spam, Mephistion, etc. The even better news is that I know there won't be a single Mech-IG list there. The bad news is that I can't cheese with the Baron.

My list at the moment will be pretty much the same thing I've been spamming since the codex came out (Ravagers, Raiders, Trueborn, Venom, Wyches, Warriors and if points allow a Reaver squad), but now I need to work in a new HQ unit. The Hellions are now gone for obvious reasons, and I was looking for advice on what to replace them with.

1) Archon. Very killy, quite survivable until rolling a 1. Gets expensive quick. Bodyguard unit would be Incubi (will be handy as I know there will be at least one BA infantry-based list there) or Wyches with HWG. Running with Incubi pushes the Archon costs to rather high levels, not helped by the high cost of the Incubi.

2) Succubus. Dirt cheap (Agoniser/HWG = 90pts), can run with the Wyches which I already include. Doesn't provide any utility at all (Archon can at least pack a Blaster or something). She will also be very nice at dealing with attached Sang Priests.

3) Haemies. Shattershards or Liquifiers attached to the Wyches. Will help out greatly when tarpitting jumpers, as it means the Wyches will be 4++/FNP while the BA will be 3+/FNP. Hekatrix used to punch through FnP with an Agoniser. Haemie won't help if the Wyches are up against Dreads, as the high S of the Dreadnought's attacks will ignore FnP.

I'm very very tempted to turn one of the 3 Ravagers into a Disintegrator platform...

Any/all advice welcomed. There are no special points bonuses for killing off SCs (there is a side-tourney which gives you points for killing certain types of units, but they results of that are independant of the main games. i.e. it's for fun and nothing to worry changing an army list for), and the mission types are the standard ones in the 40K book.

[HsuTau]

Can i ask a question off topic about assaulting from open topped transports?

Am I right in sayin that wyches can move 12" inches in transport, disembark within 2" inches of the transport and charge 6" inches to target? or can they not move that far and charge?

Anyone help me with that? Thanks for reading.

[Sami]

It's further

12" transport + 2" disembark + D6" run (they have fleet) + 6" assault. If the enemy unit is within 6" after the disembark then you might as well shoot them instead of running. However, if they're just out of range, the Fleet/Run is a god-send.

[HsuTau]

It's further

12" transport + 2" disembark + D6" run (they have fleet) + 6" assault. If the enemy unit is within 6" after the disembark then you might as well shoot them instead of running. However, if they're just out of range, the Fleet/Run is a god-send.

***SERIOUS***

Wow thats a potential of a 24" charge then in a sense. My friend told me they couldn't move that far as they wouldn't get the run move. Is this because its open topped? Thats amazing.

Thanks for your help Sami